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Advantages
Advantages are the key way to specialize a character in Jack of Trades, referring to generally passive enhancements to the character's abilities. Every Jack of Trades character begins the game with 2 Advantages. A character gains a new advantage, or adds a rank to an existing advantage, by spending an Advance. Quick Reference Frontier Setting Advantage Quick Reference Advantages * Citizen ** This Actor belongs to a Nation, large scale Organization, or otherwise widely-recognized Faction or Group. When working with other members of the same Group, and remaining in good standing, this Actor can expect lower difficulty modifiers for Influence Draws, lower prices in shops, and other perks decided by the Dealer and influenced by their Rank in this Advantage. This Advantage may be taken up to 5 times for a single Faction. This Advantage may be taken for other factions as well. * Deadeye ** This Actor is a trained sharpshooter, spotter, or sentient owl person with great eyes and finesse with ranged weaponry. At Rank 1, the Actor no longer suffers the penalties imposed by the Inaccurate Drawback on Ranged Weaponry. At Rank 2, the Actor adds the Accurate Advantage to their currently wielded Ranged Weapons. * Focused ** This Actor has a driven zeal that pushes them to succeed no matter the odds. Every time they draw Trait cards during an Opposed Draw, they may choose to discard a single Trait card with a value equal to or less than their current Rank in this Advantage + 1. Afterwards, they may draw and play face down a replacement card from the Deck. * Grip ** This Actor has practiced extensively with huge weaponry, training their arm strength to compensate. Foremost this means they can wield even large weapons with ease, allowing them to ignore the Two Handed Disadvantage. More deadly, however, is their ability when they use two hands, independently capable of swinging a zweihander, and place them upon a single weapon's haft. This Actor adds the Armor Piercing Advantage to any Melee Weapon they are currently using in two hands, with a Rank equal to their Rank in this Advantage. * Heroic ** This Actor has an existing reputation for accomplishing good deeds, with higher Ranks implying further reaches of fame. The effect of this Advantage depends on exactly which crowd this Actor is trying to sway. If the group is comprised mostly of the adoring public, good citizen types, sympathetic organizations, During an Opposed Influence Draw, this Actor adds their Rank in this Advantage to their Successes if the Draw succeeds. When dealing with criminal organizations, lowlifes, rogue-ish lawbreaking types, and the underclass, this distinction poisons the conversation, frustrates their ability to communicate. When this Actor attempts to Influence such groups, they add their Rank in this Advantage to the Difficulty of the Opposed Influence Draw. Obviously these categories are up to the Dealer's discretion and informed by the context of the situation. This Advantage relates to common, documented knowledge of the Actor's achievements - it should be something they expect everyone to have heard about, and thus difficult to conceal when it might be disadvantageous. * Improvised Assault ** This Actor often finds themselves without a weapon at hand, and learned quickly how to make do with turkey legs, chairs, fire extinguishers, and, statistically, at least one broken beer or wine bottle. As a result, they are adept at both choosing effective offensive solutions and making the best use of that solution's limitations and specialties. When this Actor first picks up an object not intended to be used as a weapon and stubbornly persists in using it, they may add one of the Advantages in the table below to it. When an Advantage specifies a Rank, replace the (x) with the Actor's Rank in this Advantage. At Rank 2, this Actor also adds 1 to the Damage Bonus of every Improvised Weapon they currently wield. * Knockback ** This Actor has learned to drive the entire force of their body's movement into their opponent while attacking. When making a Bodily Harm action with a melee weapon, if successful, they may move any affected opponents as though they had just used a Slam Action. * Martial Artist ** This Actor is trained well in the art of fighting without weaponry. This may extend to the use of their feet, fists, elbows, knees, head, grapples, anything they can manage with their own body. At Rank 1, this results in adding 1 to the damage bonus of Human Limbs, Brackets, and Cybernetic Limbs, as well as removing the Fragile Drawback from them. With a second Rank, the Actor is replicate the Advantages their compatriots have likely found in using weapons. By spending an action to assume an appropriate stance, the Actor can add any of the listed Advantages below to their Human Limbs, Brackets, or Cybernetic Limbs. This Advantage can be changed at will by using an additional Action. When an Advantage specifies a Rank, replace the (x) with the Actor's Rank in this Advantage. * Parkour ** This Actor is adept at moving through rough terrain, dodging obstacles, and otherwise getting where they need to be without slowing down. With 1 Rank in this Advantage, this Actor halves any Difficulty modifiers they would suffer from moving through rough terrain or obstacles. At Rank 2, these Difficulty modifiers are ignored entirely. * Point Blank ** This Actor has practiced the use of firearms at danger close range. This Actor adds the Snub Barrel Advantage to every Ranged Weapon they currently wield. * Ranged Parry ** This Actor has trained in the risky art of deflecting thrown objects, arrows, and for the especially talented even bullets, with melee weaponry. This Actor may use a Reflexive Melee Weaponry x Perception Draw to deflect ranged attacks with a matching type to their melee weapon - solid or energy. * Reload Faster ** This Actor has a familiarity and muscle memory that allows them to reload their ranged weapon as fast as possible. This Actor may Reload as part of any Action, not just Bide Time. * Savant (Skill) ** This Actor has some natural familiarity with the intricacies of a particular Skill. Every time they draw Trait cards during an Opposed Skill Draw with the chosen Skill, they may choose to discard a number of Trait cards equal to their Rank in this Advantage with values equal to or less than their current Rank in this Advantage + 1. Afterwards, they may draw and play face down replacement cards from the Deck. * Scoundrel ** This Actor has an existing reputation for criminal, immoral, or otherwise objectionable deeds, with higher Ranks implying further reaches of infamy. The effect of this Advantage depends on exactly which crowd this Actor is trying to sway. If the group is comprised mostly of underclass, sinister organization members, rogues and the like, During an Opposed Influence Draw, this Actor adds their Rank in this Advantage to their Successes if the Draw succeeds. When dealing with opposing authority figures, morality guardians, and other Do-Gooder types, this distinction poisons the conversation, frustrates their ability to communicate. When this Actor attempts to Influence such groups, they add their Rank in this Advantage to the Difficulty of the Opposed Influence Draw. Obviously these categories are up to the Dealer's discretion and informed by the context of the situation. This Advantage relates to common, documented knowledge of the Actor's achievements - it should be something they expect everyone to have heard about, and thus difficult to conceal when it might be disadvantageous. * Sensory Improvement ** This Actor has unusually sharp senses, good ears, or perhaps even cybernetic enhancements to their nose and eyes. Their finely tuned senses reduce the Difficulty of Opposed Notice Draws by their Rank in this Advantage. * Shield Mastery ** This Actor has practiced extensively with shields in combat, knowing just how to deflect blows to maximize their longevity. When determining the number of Wounds a Shield can take before being destroyed (Normally the Shield's Rank in the Shield Advantage), multiply that number by the Actor's Rank in this Advantage + 1. * Temper ** This Actor is prone to violent outbursts when angered. When this Actor is successfully Wounded, regardless of how many Wounds are inflicted at once, they draw cards equal to their Rank in this Advantage. * Toughness ** This Actor is especially resilient, ready to push forward even in the event of terrible wounds. When determining the maximum number of Wounds an Actor can sustain before being Knocked Out, typically by multiplying their Will Trait by 3, add the Actor's Rank in this Advantage to that multiplier. Frontier Setting Advantages * Android ** This Actor is mostly or entirely synthetic in origin, its sentience living as a cloud of data currently operating some mechanical shell. Androids may only increase their Intuition Trait with Advances beyond Character Creation, with all of their other Traits being determined by the chassis they currently find themselves in. By spending a week in their off time and 1000$ * the Trait's new Rank in supplies, they may upgrade their own hardware in lieu of finding a new tin can to live in. The assistance of a competent technician and solid Technology Draws can speed up this process. ** ** This means to increase Fitness, Perception, or Will, an Android must either upgrade their current body or find a new one. Androids may take over a willing form over the course of 1 Hour without making a Draw. This process can be sped up with successful Technology Draws, adding up to a number of Successes determined by the Dealer based on the circumstances. In case the Target body is not willing, these Draws are Opposed. ** ** This flexible consciousness can also be spread amongst multiple bodies – an Android can actively control a separate body for every point of Intuition it possesses. Every controlled body inherits the Skills, Advantages, Techniques, and Intuition of the Android – this can be divided amongst the bodies in whole points as the Android requires. This allocation takes an Action from one of the controlled bodies to change. ** ** Androids and other mechanical entities are immune to a number of threats to organics – Poisons, low oxygen environments, and Telepathy are specific effects that will not immediately affect these entities, with any additional vulnerabilities or immunities determined by the Dealer based on the specific situation. ** Androids gain 1 free rank in Technopathy as well as Technology. * Engineered ** This Advantage indicates an Actor that was born in mostly or entirely artificial circumstances and engineered at the genetic level for some purpose. This grants them exemplary performance with one Trait at the expense of another, increasing a chosen Trait by 1 and reducing the Max Rank of a second chosen Trait to 3. This Advantage does not allow a Trait to exceed 5. * Psychic Ability ** When taken at Creation, this Advantage grants a free rank in two Psychic Skills and a free rank in Conditioning. In addition, the Actor now has a pool of Psychic Cards based on their rank in said Advantage, which are refilled every session. Using any Psychic Skill, even reflexively, requires spending either a Psychic Card or a Wildcard. ** ** From a story perspective, having Psychic Ability means the Actor has been enhanced beyond their original humanity in some way – for most of the Skills listed, this involves sourcing of Xenobiological organisms, advanced cybernetics, serious genetic mutation, or some other tangentially horrific treatment which should be reflected in how the Actor treats the world around them and how they view their own abilities. Similarly, using these Abilities in public will greatly influence how others treat this Actor. Generally it's not a positive influence. ** ** From a mechanical perspective, developing other Psychic Skills beyond the two chosen initially should occur rarely, only if justified by further treatment or some other event in the story proper. * Options ** ** Telepathy *** This Skill is highly valued by the intelligence organizations of most criminal and/or corporate institutions, and extremely subtle. Users of Telepathy may read the surface thoughts of their opponents. In Interactions this is especially effective, allowing the Telepath to reveal the Hand of an opponent. Outside of direct conflict, Telepathy can also plant suggestions in the mind of others and locate thoughts a few levels deeper than what their Target is thinking about for lunch – though this is at increased Difficulty. *** Applications **** Reveal ***** Actor may spend a Psychic Card to make an Opposed Telepathy vs. a single Target. If successful, the Target plays with their cards in hand revealed for a number of turns equal to this Actor's ranks in Psychic Ability. Outside of Interactions, this ability may be used to read the surface thoughts of Targets, as interpreted by the Dealer. **** Overwhelm ***** Actor may spend a Psychic Card to make a Bodily Harm Action against a Target within Medium Range which ignores Damage Reduction from Armor and uses one's Psychic Ability Rank in place of a weapon's Damage Bonus. An attempt which fails deals a wound for each skill card played to this Actor instead, also ignoring Damage Reduction from Armor. Wounds dealt by this ability are removed at the end of the current Scene. This ability cannot damage non-organic beings. **** Augment ***** Actor may Spend Psychic Cards as Wildcards for draws involving the Influence, Notice, and Business Skills. ** Telekinesis ***While similar to Telepathy, those imbued with Telekinesis tend to apply their power more forcefully, focusing on manipulating the physical objects around them rather than bother with the squishy grey matter of others. In advanced cases this can extend to applying forces like torsion to objects, but most find simply hurling large objects through the air with their mind is effective enough. ***'Applications' **** Manipulate ***** Actor may spend a Psychic Card to make an opposed Telekinesis Draw to apply external force to a non-organic object within Medium Range. The difficulty of this Draw is determined by the makeup of the object, its material composition and size having the greatest influence. If successful, this Actor gains complete control over the object for a few seconds - this can be used to open mechanical locks, doors, reshape objects or, most forcefully, to destroy the object by crushing it from without or expanding it rapidly from within. If the object is to be destroyed being worn by a Actor, this action can be handled as Bodily Harm action opposed by that Actor, with the Damage Bonus being determined by the material of the object in question, and destroying it afterwards. **** Repel ***** Actor may spend a Psychic Card to make a Telekinesis Draw to move an object or Actor within Medium range. The difficulty of this Draw is determined by the makeup of the object, its material composition and size having the greatest influence. If moving an Actor, or moving an object toward an Actor, this Draw is Opposed, handled as a Bodily Harm action. If successful, a targeted Actor is either damaged by the moved object, with the object's size and composition determining the Damage Bonus, OR moved as though affected by the Slam Action, taking additional damage if they collide with another object or Actor, and knocking all involved Actors prone. **** Augment ***** Actor may Spend Psychic Cards as Wildcards for draws involving the Athletics, Melee Combat, and Ranged Combat Skills. ** Pyrokinesis ***Pyrokinesis refers to the free manipulation of flames. This is achieved by thoroughly incorporated xenobiological organs that can produce flammable chemicals, then secreted through the skin in liquid or vapor form. This manipulation becomes so instinctive to the Pyrokineticist they may not even appear to be doing anything at all - not until the explosion, at least. ***'Applications' **** Intensify ***** Actor may spend a Psychic Card to make a Pyrokinesis Draw to rapidly increase the speed of the combustion reaction at the heart of a Fire within Medium Range. This can be used to spread the flames, with each action increasing the space covered by flames and causing damage to those caught within, expanding a Rank 1 Fire (like that of a basic campfire) by 1 Rank and extending its coverage accordingly. This Draw is Opposed by the current Rank of the Flames. A Pyrokineticist cannot influence a Fire with a Rank above their Rank in Psychic Ability. ***** Fire Effects: **** Spark ***** Actor may spend a Psychic Card to have a fire within Medium range immediately consume all available oxygen near it, a phenomenon formally know as an "Explosion". The Rank of this Explosion is based on the Rank of the Fire that birthed it, and afterwards the Fire is completely eliminated. In absence of a previously existing flame, the Pyrokineticist may use this to make an Opposed Bodily Harm Action against a Target within Melee range. When used this way, the Damage Bonus of the ability is the Pyrokineticist's Psychic Ability Rank. A Pyrokineticist cannot cause an Explosion with a Rank exceeding their Rank in Psychic Ability. ***** Explosions are resisted by Reflexive Athletics Draws, with a Difficulty and Damage Bonus equal to their Rank. ** Augment **** Actor may Spend Psychic Cards as Wildcards for draws involving the Craft(Explosives) skill. **'Biokinesis' *** Biokinesis refers to the manipulation of organic material on the microscopic scale, generally resulting in grotesque modifications of bodies, the animation of crimes against nature, and augmentation of one's own physical abilities. This is achieved via integrated xenobiological organs in the Biokineticist's brain, allowing a subconscious knowledge of genetic information and with training the ability to send out custom built DNA-modifying Viral strands to affect the desired changes at a wholly unnatural pace. *** Applications **** Modify ***** Actor may spend a Psychic Card to modify organic matter. If used on an Actor, a Biokinesis Draw allows this Actor to remove or add a Rank to any Trait of the Target. This modification remains until the end of the Scene. The Biokineticist may also choose to modify the appearance of their Target as they wish. Such modification is permanent. ***** If used on a non-Actor, such as a pile of meat or a compost heap, the Biokineticist may animate the matter into a Follower. The initial Action creates an animated creature with a Power Rating of 1 and normal mobility. Subsequent actions may be used to increase the Power Rating, add Advantages, and add Natural Weaponry to this Follower. The Biokineticist may not make more modifications to this base Follower than they have Ranks in Psychic Ability. These additional modifications do not require Psychic Cards to be spent, only more Actions. These grotesqueries die at the end of the current Scene, likely to their great relief. **** Destroy ***** Actor may spend a Psychic Card to make a Bodily Harm Action which ignores Damage Reduction from armor and uses one's Psychic Ability Rank in place of a weapon's Damage Bonus against a living Organic Target within Melee Range. **** Augment ***** Actor may Spend Psychic Cards as Wildcards for draws involving the Fitness Trait. Technopathy * Technopathy is the result of cybernetic enhancements to the brain, allowing the Actor to think natively in machine code, and thus to "talk" to synthetic Actors and non-sentient machines in a way far more direct and intuitive than the coding interfaces used by human programmers for centuries. This direct connection allows for far greater manipulation of the synthetics in question. ** Applications *** Overwhelm **** Actor may spend a Psychic Card to send out a mass of garbage instructions to a single synthetic Actor or non-sentient Machine within Long Range. Against Actors, this is an Opposed Technopathy Draw against the Target's Resist Skill. If successful, the Target is Disabled. Against non-Actor Machines, this is an Opposed Draw against the Difficulty Rating of the system, determined by the Dealer. If successful, anything controlled by the machine is Disabled until it can be Recovered by another Actor. *** Assimilate **** Actor may spend a Psychic Card to shift the allegiance of a Synthetic Actor or non-sentient Machine. This is handled as an Opposed Technopathy Draw against their Resist Skill. If successful, the affected Target is considered Allied to this Actor until the end of scene, acting in this Actor's best interests, both in and out of combat situations, as interpreted by the Dealer. This Actor may hold influence over as many beings in this manner as their Rank in Psychic Ability. This effect ends immediately if the Actor is Knocked Out, and may only be made permanent via more traditional manipulation involving the Technology Skill. *** Augment **** Actor may Spend Psychic Cards as Wildcards for draws involving the Technology and Craft(Machine) skills. In addition, these Psychic Cards may also be spent on Notice, Stealth, and Influence Draws involving synthetic Actors and/or automated systems. Conditioning *'Application' **Conditioning refers to the training undergone, willingly or not, by every user of Psychic Abilities. Specifically it is their ability to resist both the negative effects of their own abilities as well as the attempts of others. While this skill is rarely used in Skill Draws, it acts as Damage Reduction against every Psychic Ability's effects. Category:Actor